Shasta daisies are an easy to grow perennial that even the novice gardener will have great success with in the garden. Shasta daisies are suitable to grow in flower gardens or containers, attract butterflies and are great for use as cut flowers.
The beginning tip for growing Shasta daisies is chose the right garden location for planting them. Shasta daises need a sunny location with well drained soil. Chose a location that will receive the morning sun, or if you plant Shasta daisies where they will receive the afternoon sun, plant them in a location that will partially shade them from the sun’s hot rays.
You can easily start Shasta daisies from seeds or they are readily available for purchase as potted plants. Plant Shasta daisies 18 to 24 inches apart. They will multiply and need room in the garden to spread out and grow. A mature Shasta daisy will be between 1-3 feet tall and spread out about 1-2 feet, and will bloom from early summer till the first frost.
Shasta daisies will need to be dug up and divided every two to three years. Replant a few of the divided Shasta daisies in sparse places in your garden so you will always have a steady supply of these white and yellow flowers in your garden. Even though Shasta daisies are perennials, you can’t count on them to return indefinitely. Shasta daisies will return in all their glory for several growing seasons, then one spring they just won’t show up again.
Once the Shasta daisies have been planted in the garden, all they need to thrive is a little fertilizer in the spring and moist soil throughout the growing season. Place mulch around the daisies to keep the soil cool, hold in moisture and prevent weeds from growing.
Shasta daisies come in several varieties, single or double petals, dwarf to tall. To keep the tall varieties of Shasta daisies from growing too tall, pinch the stem back to about 6 inches in late May.
To get a second, late season bloom from Shasta daisies, cut the blooms back to the height of the side stem blooms after the first blooms have faded. This pruning will keep the plant looking neat and promote deep root growth in addition to providing you with a second round of blooms.
These easy care perennials have long been a garden favorite. Many of us grew up playing the ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ game with the classic Shasta daisy, not realizing that one day we would love the daisy itself and have them growing in our own gardens for our children and grand children to pick and enjoy.
